What has the company got for us?

The Xiaomi Mi 8 launch event has kicked off in Shenzhen, China, set to give us a glimpse of the firm’s next flagship, the new MIUI 10 Android skin, and Mi Band 3 fitness tracker.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 took center stage at the event, yielding a design that was true to the rumors. And yes, that includes the dreaded notch. But much like Huawei and OnePlus, the company has included a setting to hide the feature.

Otherwise, expect a Snapdragon 845 chipset, a 6.21-inch 2,248 x 1,080 AMOLED display (18.7:9 screen ratio) and a 12MP/12MP AI-assisted dual camera setup. The camera pairing consists of an f/1.8 primary shooter and an f/2.4 telephoto shooter to get those zoomed in pictures.

In fact, Xiaomi claimed a DxOMark photo score of 105, beating the iPhone X and Mi Mix 2S’s 101 score. As for overal DxOMark scores, the company claims a rating of 99, besting the Apple device and Mi Mix 2S by two points.

The company has also been touting the Mi 8’s performance prowess in benchmarks, touting an Antutu score of over 301,000 points. Of course, DxOMark and Antutu scores mean nothing if the actual user experience is lacking, so we look forward to getting our hands on the device.

MIUI 10 embraces AI, tall screens

As for MIUI 10? Xiaomi has marketed the update as the “best full screen experience.” The multitasking menu has seen an overhaul, for starters, now scrolling vertically to take advantage of the tall screen ratio of today’s phones. The multitasking menu also allows you to tap and hold on an app to view all options (e.g. close, lock).

Perhaps inspired by the Pixel 2 duo, Xiaomi’s new update also brings a portrait mode to the table, allowing single-camera phones to take portraits as well.

The new update also brings a driving mode to the table, allowing users to give voice commands instead of operating the phone in a conventional manner.

Finally, taking a page from Huawei’s book, Xiaomi is marketing MIUI 10 for its AI-enhanced performance management. Much like EMUI 8, the new Xiaomi update is supposed to predict your next move and allocate system resources accordingly.

Impressive growth in Europe and India

Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun kicked off the event by highlighting the company’s impressive performance in India. He cited IDC statistics, that found Xiaomi to beat Samsung to number one in the market.